DEARBORN, Mich. - More details have emerged about the reasons DFCU Financial wants to become a bank as well as the challenges the $1.8 billion credit union expects it may face meeting its CRA obligations as a bank. According to its plan of conversion, which the credit union's nine-member board...

ARLINGTON, Va. - The pace at which credit unions sold their card portfolios and entered into agent relationships with their purchasers started out strong in 2005 but slowed significantly over the course of the year. Rising interest rates provided part of the reason for the slowdown along with the relatively...

WASHINGTON - Whether and how credit unions and banks accept the so-called Matricula Consular as identification from new account openers continued controversial in 2005 as the issue became ensnared in the nation's broader conversation about immigration policy. The Mexican Government issues Matricula Consular cards for Mexican nationals who are living...

WASHINGTON - The fight between payday lenders and credit unions raged on in 2005. Credit unions which had begun to offer alternatives to payday loans for their members continued to do so in 2005, both in established programs such as those offered by the $13 billion State Employees' Credit Union,...

WASHINGTON - The National Community Reinvestment Coalition kept up its periodic attack on credit unions for allegedly not doing enough to serve low-income communities in 2005, thus helping to keep the topic alive. NCRC is the umbrella group of more than 800 groups and institutions, including the National Federation of...

WILMINGTON, Del. - If the market for CU card portfolios continues to slow next year, one reason may be the pending merger between card giant MBNA and Bank of America. Announced at the end of June and scheduled to be completed by the end of 2005, the merger between the...

HOUSTON - The ATM and EFT world lost one of the last networks owned by its financial institution members in 2005 when the banks and credit unions which owned the PULSE EFT Association approved the network's purchase by Discover Financial Services, the card arm of Morgan Stanley. Undoubtedly the prospect...

SAN FRANCISCO - The environment in which credit unions conduct their card business began to significantly change in 2005, but it remains unclear what the changes will likely mean. Both Visa USA and MasterCard announced that they would no longer be associations of card issuing financial institutions and would instead...